CLEVELAND, Ohio – Good news is happening for Cleveland's tech startup industry.
After several area tech companies have packed their bags the past year and left Cleveland for greener pastures, a Silicon Valley based tech company is looking to build a large part of its operations in the Sixth City, which means huge potential for job seekers. This excitement takes place all the while the city is quickly becoming a 3D printing hub, which makes so much sense given the area's
industrial roots.
Bullish on Cleveland. BrightEdge is opening the company's central sales office in the Tower City complex within the next couple of months.
The company, founded in 2007 by Jim Yu and Lemuel Park, within three years had perfected its software as a service (SaaS) called Content Performance Marketing. The SaaS based service allows users to plan, optimize and measure content marketing campaigns based on actual content performance.
BrightEdge officials said they wanted to find a captivating city to place its sales hub. Under the guidance of Vice President of Sales Barrett Foster and Ariane Lindblom, vice president of product marketing, the company put together a short list of possible cities. Provided a tip by a Cleveland-based employee at Rosetta – BrightEdge started giving Cleveland the hard look. Both Foster and Lindblom were immediately impressed by the emerging talent base here, the robust energy of downtown and the favorable real estate environment. Measuring Cleveland against other cities, they said the decision came quickly.
BrightEdge is finalizing a lease agreement on a 10,000 square-foot-space with options for growth. Once scaled, it will be by far the largest sales team in the company with the prime directive to grow the sales team even larger. Both Foster and Lindblom were bullish on Cleveland in ways that would make even the hardest Cleveland cynic smile broadly.
BrightEdge now has 300 employees, up from only 10 in 2010. It's 1,300 global customers include the likes of 3M, Adobe, Microsoft, VMWare, Nike, Macy's, Wyndham, Marriott, Groupon, Audi, and Monster Energy.
As head of sales, Foster will be tasked with getting the office growing as quickly as possible. He noted the great energy that is emanating in the city and its ever expanding base of millennials who seek to be a part of something special. And for those looking for a fresh opportunity, the company is hiring. Check out available openings.
BrightEdge is a perfect example of how Cleveland has a competitive advantage for companies on both the coasts: superlative universities delivering a hoard of talent each year, and expenses are much lower here.
It's time for the City of Cleveland, Downtown Cleveland Alliance, Cuyahoga County, Greater Cleveland Partnership and others to form a new team that targets companies such as BrightEdge and help them move operations to Northeast Ohio.
Phenom Refresh. Phenom, a local startup that recently left Cleveland to try its hand in Silicon Valley, is half-way through the current class at the coveted 500 Startups and is feverishly working toward its demo day in mid-May. Getting great advice from the accelerator's advisor team, Phenom is tuning out all the noise about the company moving West and focusing on product, scaling the product down and improving on one metric and the drivers of that metric. The company developed a social media app for athletes to show off their skills and their apparel/equipment
The founders, Michael Eppich and Brian Verne, said during the first two weeks at 500 Startups they focused on growing user numbers only to learn that is not the number that matters – turns out that retention is the key to driving up valuation of the startup app company.
Investment thesis at 500 Startups is to find cool people and let them do cool stuff. Also the idea is to fail as many times as possible -- an indicator of success is failure. Couple that thesis with the belief that a region (or accelerator or ecosystem) must promote open-source entrepreneurship and great knowledge share – and you get the philosophical debate in which Phenom is at the center.
The Cleveland entrepreneurial ecosystem currently is bureaucratic, slow and too risk-averse. Phenom is flourishing out West and perhaps its time to ask why Cleveland's local startup environment is not doing the same.
3D-Printing Capital. Benesch, the venerable Cleveland law firm, is hosting its second annual 3D Printing Conference. 3D-printing is a process for making a physical object from a three-dimensional digital model, typically by laying down many successive thin layers of a material using an industrial printer.
The day-long conference, set for April 21 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Cleveland, will include talks from industry experts, Northeast Ohio leaders, presentations on the latest game-changing opportunities and challenges for this young but growing market.
The event was created by Mark Avsec – partner and vice-chair of Benesch's Innovation, Information Technology and Intellectual Property Group. Avsec has done a masterful job of positioning the 3D Printing Revolution conference as the must attend event in the 3D printing industry.
If anyone can pull this off it is Avsec. He is a well-respected lawyer and nationally celebrated musician. His practice focuses on complex technology licensing deals involving creative content, 3D-printing industry- related counseling, copyright, trademark, copyright and trademark prosecution, celebrity endorsements, and an expertise in privacy and data security compliance.
Before becoming an attorney, Avsec earned a living as a studio musician, producer and songwriter, writing more than 500 songs and producing or performing on more than 35 albums for, among other artists, Carlos Santana ("Angel Love"), Bon Jovi ("She Don't Know Me"), Donnie Iris ("Ah! Leah!" and "Love Is Like A Rock"), Mason Ruffner ("Gypsy Blood") and Wild Cherry ("Play That Funky Music, White Boy").
This event will literally rock because you have a rock-n-roll legend leading the charge.
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